The Federal Government expressed concern on Monday over the ineffective implementation of policies in the education sector, saying that there was a need to ensure proper implementation of education policies for a robust sector.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Andrew Adejo, expressed the concern during the 67th National Council on Education (NCE) parley themed “Addressing the Challenges of Policy Implementation: A Panacea for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda,” held in Ikeja.
Adejo, who was represented by Mrs. Obianuju Anigbogu, the Director, Educational Planning, Research, and Development (EPR&D), Federal Ministry of Education, described the theme of the parley as apt in view of the fact that the country’s policies were usually well-crafted but faced with ineffective implementation.
“The theme ‘Addressing the Challenges of Policy Implementation: A Panacea for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda’ is apt because our policies are usually well-crafted but are faced with ineffective implementation,” he said.
According to the permanent secretary, the nation’s educational policies faced delay and a lack of regular review to reflect national needs and aspirations, in addition to a lack of consistent monitoring and evaluation to checkmate policy implementation.
”When policies that guide a nation are not implemented at the appropriate time, the consequences are backwardness, underdevelopment, unemployment for graduates, poverty, insecurity, etc.
”However, to tackle the challenges of policy implementation, all hands must be on deck,” he said.
This was just as Adejo noted that successive governments have over the years been confronted with numerous challenges, primarily centred on the paucity of funds for funding education programmes and activities.
He, however, said that both the Federal Government and many state governments had begun to prioritise funding education, as witnessed in the budget estimates, already before the National Assembly and some state governments passed the law.
The permanent secretary expressed the hope that other states would also emulate such a budgetary example for the good of the nation.
”It is not enough to have adequate funds to show improvement in our education sector; we must all commit to doing our best to ensure that programmes are delivered appropriately to reach the desired beneficiaries.
”To make policies more concrete and valuable, policy implementers, curriculum planners, curriculum developers, and policymakers must imbibe realistic policies so that the country’s education makes them less dependent on others for survival by analysing reliable factors that obstruct or accelerate the implementation process.
”Effective monitoring and evaluation of National Council on Education (NCE) decisions has also been identified as a game-changer in actualizing policies; this will not only make our educational system functional but globally competitive,” he said.
Adejo, therefore, urged stakeholders to make meaningful contributions that would offer possible ways of addressing the challenges facing effective policy implementation in the education sector and also push the sector towards the achievement of the Education 2030 Agenda.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said in his submission that the NCE was a major stakeholders’ forum designed to brainstorm and collectively articulate ideas towards improving education service delivery in the country.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by Mr Jamiu Alli-Balogun, the State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, charged educators in the education sector to ensure they turned out graduates who were fit for the labour market.
”As we jointly deliberate on critical issues about the educational development of our children to proffer lasting solutions to identified problems,
”I seize this opportunity to remind us all, either as career professionals or elected officials, to expand our thoughts and strive to produce self-reliant youths through our educational system.
”We must re-engineer and reposition our education policymaking and implementation strategy to deliver graduate students who will blend with labour market demand.
”It is in pursuit of this goal that we are here gathered as stakeholders to exchange ideas and agree on some proposed reforms,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor also described the theme of the NCE meeting as appropriate, saying that it gave an avenue to co-create and collaborate towards enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.
He said that this would provide more refined educational models and offer lasting solutions to the challenges of policy formulation in the education sector.